Our Story

Every girl has the right to an education that will improve her life, her family, and her community.

This is the idea behind the founding of Daraja Academy. When Jason and Jenni Doherty – educators from the San Francisco Bay Area – visited Kenya in 2006, they were struck by the degree that gender determined opportunity.

Without secondary education in Kenya, girls were being left behind. Some faced early marriage and pregnancies, and were unlikely to attract the professional opportunities that enable economic self-sufficiency. Education is the fastest bridge out of poverty.

The Doherty’s realized they could contribute to the solution, and resolved to establish a school for exceptional girls who had no other means of continuing their education. They partnered with Victoria Gichuhi, a Kenyan educator, who today serves as Head of School of Daraja Academy. Together, they conceptualized a boarding school that would see to a girl’s physical needs, provide her with a rigorous academic curriculum, and empower her as a woman and leader. They named the school Daraja, which means bridge, and sought to fill it with girls from all over Kenya whose potential would otherwise be lost.

With your help, the Daraja story will continue…